On Tuesday, Jan 17th, the City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) made a presentation to the Transportation Committee of Community Board 2 (CB2) which included a slightly revised plan to calm traffic in our neighborhood incorporating some input from our community meeting in July, as well as additional changes; its rationale for converting Furman Street into a two way street; and a separate traffic calming plan for Atlantic Ave by Pier 6. At the bottom of this post you will find DOT’s revised Fulton Ferry plan, some of DOT’s additions, and detailed schematics of the specifics for Old Fulton St from Furman to Hicks St.

Before and during the meeting, we raised our questions and concerns with DOT, which we share with you below.

Two-way Furman:

While we still believe that this will increase traffic in our area, particularly in conjunction with the proposed changes at Atlantic Ave, we are pleased that DOT has agreed to the following mitigations:

Moving the yellow center dividing strip on Furman St so that the west side no longer has three more feet than the east, thus allowing for more generous space for larger vehicles and buses to make the turn at Old Fulton

Expediting the removal of Furman St and Old Fulton St west of Front St from local truck routes, and working with its partner the NYPD to enforce the same.

Creating a “no parking” zone on the south side of Old Fulton adjacent to 8 Old Fulton.

Old Fulton Street Traffic Calming:

At the suggestion of residents and FFLA, DOT has told the Parks Department that we have requested that trees be planted on the widened sidewalk on the west side of Front Street, . Ultimately, it will be our responsibility to follow up with Parks on this by officially requesting trees in the spring.

We believe that the B25 bus layover planned for Front St.under the Bridge leaves residents, workers and visitors to DUMBO, Fulton Ferry and the Park short of their destinations and would be better used for residential parking, since we will be losing some spots due to the traffic calming plan. Moreover, until 2011, this community never had four buses laying over at one time, which we believe may represent an operational failure on the part of NYC Transit and needs to be addressed. DOT’s response is that they feel it is the most central location for a bus drop-off that is in reasonable distance from both destinations and that currently DUMBO riders either have to walk to Old Fulton St to begin their B-25 trip or get on the bus in DUMBO and then wait through the layover at Everit and Old Fulton St to continue their trip. DOT says it has worked hard to come up with a workable solution and that it is not its position to question how NYCT runs its operations. Fellow residents: please tell us how you feel about this, remembering that the line will still start at Everit Street, but end at Front St.

A group of our residents worked hard in the fall to prune, weed and clean up the islands on Old Fulton by Front St. to open the sightlines for pedestrians and vehicles, and we have indicated multiple times that we want those islands to remain green, as they are, and not paved over with large sidewalks. DOT believes this issue remains unresolved until it can be convinced that the community will continue to maintain these sightlines. (DOT has, however, indicated that some of the islands will be extended into Old Fulton Street by about 2 feet.) Since the islands were originally conceived and constructed at the behest of FFLA to create green spaces to separate pedestrians from traffic, we ask any resident willing to do some gardening to come pitch in once winter ends. We also ask that if you agree they should stay as they are, without any additional removal of vegetation, write chrones@dot.nyc.gov and cc us at fultonferry@gmail.com

We have been told by DOT that the traffic calming and the pedestrian plaza on the north side of Old Fulton is temporary. We wanted to know what recourse we residents have if we feel there is a problem. DOT’s response was that they would work with local stakeholders on any issues that could emerge with the project post implementation. That means that the onus is on us, the residents, to document issues if and when they arise starting this spring.

Separately, DOT has agreed to the following points:

Currently, cars turning left on Old Fulton from Water St consistently stop again at the traffic signal for Old Fulton eastbound in error, causing back-up and honking. We asked whether this traffic signal could be moved further down Old Fulton, closer to the river. DOT will have its signal engineers look at it and perhaps move or louver it, but not until spring when the rest of the work is planned.

DOT will work with FFLA on a means to prevent buses, limos and trucks from driving over the pavement on 8 Old Fulton, potentially by shifting the double yellow line a little more towards the west or using flexible delineators.

DOT will monitor the situation with the traffic signal on the side of 8 Old Fulton because it is placed on a very shallow catch basin and residents have expressed concern about flooding/icing.

DOT will address the conflicting “No stopping” and “No standing” signs on Furman Street, preferably by making them both “No Stopping.”

We noted the two traffic lights facing Furman northbound, wondering if they are redundant. DOT assures us the redundancies are a back up system and intentional.

BELOW IS THE MOST RECENT SUBMISSION BY DOT, ALONG WITH THE RELEVANT SCHEMATICS